Blue Mountain College changes name to Blue Mountain Christian University
Nov. 4—BLUE MOUNTAIN — Blue Mountain College will change its name to Blue Mountain Christian University, BMC President Dr. Barbara McMillin announced Friday morning.
Action to change the name was taken by Blue Mountain's Board of Trustees following six months of constituent conversations and a resolution of support from the alumni association.
The university will begin the transition process immediately and will welcome the fall 2023 freshman class as the first to be admitted to Blue Mountain Christian University.
"Blue Mountain College was founded in 1873, and we are on the eve of our 150th anniversary," McMillin said. "Going into this next era, we're poised to make this change."
It's not the college's first name change. BMC was founded as Blue Mountain Female Institute in 1873. The name was later changed to Blue Mountain Female College and finally Blue Mountain College in 1905, according to McMillin.
Now, 117 years later, the college will change the meaning of the "C" in the BMC acronym and add a "U" to the end as it becomes Blue Mountain Christian University.
"We love being known as BMC," McMillin said. "That's our history, and we want to retain that."
The university will keep its current mascot, the Toppers, and the same school colors, but its logo will change. It will "retain some of the flavor and the distinctiveness that identifies us" while communicating the new look, McMillin said.
Why the name is changing
Two major factors led to the name change.
The first is a desire for the private Baptist college, which was independently owned and operated until being turned over to the Mississippi Baptist Convention in 1920, to lean into its identity as a Christian school.
"We want to first and foremost be clear and bold about our convictions, about who we are as a Christian college," McMillin said. "And we want all of our constituents, those who know us well and those who are getting to know us, to have a clear understanding of our commitment to our Christ-centered mission."
The second is that the "university" designation is typically used to distinguish a college that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs from schools that do not, like community colleges and liberal arts colleges. Blue Mountain began offering graduate studies in 2007, starting with a Master of Education program.
"We are at a point in our existence that we have expanded and grown in complexity, and that complexity includes traditional liberal arts programs but it also includes professional programs," McMillin said.
News of the name change came less than three months after Blue Mountain announced plans to establish a School of Nursing as it launches a new nursing program in 2023. Blue Mountain will continue to explore adding additional schools, like the School of Nursing, under the university's umbrella, McMillin said.
"Those two things — Christian and university — better describe who we are right now and who we want to be more fully going forward," McMillin said.
Blue Mountain is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The association must be notified of the name change, but it did not require prior approval.
McMillin said the university is committed to being a good steward of resources by answering to both names for a period of time as "Blue Mountain College" is slowly phased out and things like signage, official letterhead, etc. is changed to reflect the new name. She expects to be fully transitioned to "Blue Mountain Christian University" by next fall.
"Blue Mountain Christian University is the legacy of Blue Mountain College," McMillin said. "We are building on the foundation of a name that has described us well and that we hold dear in our hearts. This is a tribute to the tenacity, if you will, of Blue Mountain College that Blue Mountain Christian University would stand on its shoulders."
